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Evaluating a Location-Based Offender Monitoring System

Managing offenders within the community requires knowing what inmates are doing at all times. Technology can help.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections is testing a GPS-based monitoring system that uses GIS (geographic information system)
to analyze patterns of movement of both individuals and groups within the community. The Oklahoma field experiment is called
GeoShadow. NIJ-funded evaluators at Oklahoma University are working with the Department of Corrections to assess its effectiveness.

The toolkit that is part of GeoShadow is designed to let probation officers better assess an offender's location in the community,
identify patterns that lead to problem behavior as it unfolds, and improve corrections-based GPS monitoring systems. Knowing
an offender's movement patterns also helps assess treatment issues and make decisions about early intervention.